Surveys conducted for Independence Day reveal that 20,000 Israelis emigrate every year, meaning that they find an alternative homeland for themselves. Some 25 percent of Israelis have thought about leaving the country, meaning that they considered alternatives to living here. In an increasingly chaotic reality, the feeling that there is an alternative addresses our inherent need to feel in control.

Lately, the search for alternatives has emerged as an end in itself, as can be seen in the succession of "alternative" events that Holocaust Memorial Day, Memorial Day and Independence Day have spawned. The alternative has become the norm - that is the only conclusion. So much so that sticking to the canonic norms has become a subversive act. The shared public space available for commemoration is dwindling.

In parallel to the official Holocaust remembrance ceremony at Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority), many attend a host of alternative commemoration ceremonies. If you are still hearing the music written for Hannah Szenes' poem, Blessed is the Match, then it is time to change the CD. There is a modern alternative: "Ghetto - the Hip-Hop Version," by the local rapper Subliminal, who composed the piece especially for Holocaust Memorial Day. "I find an almost natural connection between hip-hop and the Holocaust," Subliminal explained. Yad Vashem must have concurred, as it decided to include his piece in its official ceremony.

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The choice of alternatives is even greater on Independence Day. Instead of watching the official lighting of the torch on Mount Herzl, you can attend the torch-lighting ceremony at Yesh Gvul, an organization for Israeli Defense Forces soldiers who refuse to serve in the territories. Tali Fahima, who was convicted of passing information to Palestinian terrorists, will light a torch there. The Combatants for Peace movement will also hold an alternative commemoration ceremony this year, for the first time. It will be attended by Palestinians and Israelis who wish "to remember the victims of the mutual violence in the region." Others can choose to attend the alternative ceremony sponsored by Arcadi Gaydamak in Tel Aviv's Ganei Yehoshua or one at the former settlement of Homesh, which was evacuated during the disengagement.

These events are just some of the multitude that have come to replace the public festivities that the establishment directed for so long with the aide of the plastic mallet that became the symbol of the modern Independence Day. The breakdown of unity resulted in the annulment of uniformity.

This phenomenon is no cause for concern. Some of these alternatives are nothing more than attempts to preserve the current situation through different means. Some represent genuine rebellion against the establishment. But even they demonstrate that they cannot disassociate themselves from the conventions, because the real disassociation is indifference. The endeavor to produce alternatives attests to the will to associate, albeit through other means.

Paradoxically, the alternatives emanate from the same ethos that begot the conventions. They recapture the same myths, while adjusting their style or political content. They involve very little subversion; rather, they constitute a desperate effort to remain connected, despite everything. Because unlike the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have already found alternative homelands for themselves, those who embark on alternative ceremonies are motivated by the belief that we have no other home. It is just that they want to change that home, each according to his or her own preferences.